Land Bank Investing
For most individuals, buying a plot of land for the first time can be a daunting process. If you are interested in purchasing land for an investment purpose or to build on we want to draw your attention to a few pointers that may be useful.
Why would I want to invest in land?
UK Land Trends
The perfect climate for increasing land values
* The number of households in England is projected to increase from 20.9 million in 2003 to 25.7 million by 2026, an annual growth of 209,000 new households, according to new figures released March 2006.
* About 60 per cent of the projected household growth is within the East, London, South East, and the South West.
* The new projections show higher household growth than the previous 2002-based interim and 1996-based projections. In the latest projection average household growth is 209,000 per year compared with 189,000 and 153,000 in the 2002 and 1996 based projections respectively.
Source: (ODPM Statistical Release 2006/0042)
Land Supply is Key to Sustainable Housing
08/05/07 (source: www.24dash.com)
In its submission to the Callcutt Review of Housebuilding Delivery, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has stressed that having an adequate supply of land with implementable planning permission is the key to achieving 200,000 sustainable new homes per annum by 2016.
Responding to the call for evidence from the Callcutt Review, HBF has outlined six areas which it believes are priority conditions for the industry to be able meet the demand for new homes:
- An adequate supply of land with implementable planning permission
- Adequate infrastructure
- The ability to build homes people want to buy
- Competitive returns for shareholders
- Residual land values that bring forward land for housing development
- A reduction in the complexity and cost of regulation
Whilst issues such as skills, construction methods, materials and finance are unlikely to present insurmountable barriers because they are largely within the control of the home building industry and its suppliers, the HBF is calling for the Government to ensure that policy and regulation do not create barriers to achieving the housing target or prevent new entrants from coming into the market.
One major theme of HBF's submission is growing industry concern about the complexity and cost of policy and regulation.
The escalating cost impact on land values is already constraining housing output, even before the zero-carbon target or a proposed Planning-gain Supplement is factored into the equation.
A report for English Partnerships put the cost of achieving Code Level 5 at £26,000 to £36,000 per ‘traditional' dwelling, a land cost of £1.0-1.4 million per hectare at current densities. Zero-carbon homes, at Code Level 6, will cost even more.
Commenting on HBF's submission, HBF Executive Chairman, Stewart Baseley, said: “The industry stands united with the Government in its aspiration to build 200,000 sustainable new homes per annum by 2016. There is certainly no significant impediment on the industry side to achieving this target. The success or failure of building the sustainable homes that Britain needs hinges on having a sufficient and steady supply of developable land with implementable planning permissions. At a time when the amount of land developed annually has actually declined by 10 per cent in recent years, it is difficult to overstate this point.”
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